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Amanda Lu Pei Yu

All over the world, civilisations of diverse cultures share a strikingly similar story – that the Earth once experienced a global flood, and wiped out the human race, save for one family.

Over 500 flood stories exist in seemingly unrelated civilisations in the world – though many may vary in similarities, they share a consistent overarching storyline.

Why are there so many stories about this great flood? Are these narratives mythological… or could the overwhelming flurry of narratives surrounding a great flood possibly mean that there is more than meets the eye? What is ‘true’ and what is not?

WHY

DELUGE/DELUSION aims to spur its target audience to gain awareness of this intriguing phenomenon that the world’s civilisations share a similar story – and question if there is credibility to this phenomenon, to make them desire to develop an inquisitive eye for what is mythological and what is historical. To trigger them to embark on a personal quest for truth – that eventually will flow out beyond this phenomenon to other facets of their lives.

WHO

The DELUGE/DELUSION Project is targeted to 18-21 year old youths, especially those who belong to the countries where the handpicked narratives originate from, as it concerns their local culture and cultural narratives.

Out of the 500-odd flood tales around the world, 3 major stories are selected to feature in this illustration novel.

They are:
The Genesis Flood of Ancient Near East (c. 1440BC),
The Epic of Gilgamesh of Ancient Mesopotamia (c. 2100BC), and
The Epic of Atrahasis of Akkadia/Babylonia (c. 1800BC).

Hand-bound in a tri-accordion fold format, the novel invites readers to enjoy the stories in 3 ways: By reading all three narratives simultaneously, reading each narrative individually, or expanding the book to form a mega-panorama to admire all three narratives as a whole.

2. Box of Discoveries

This product aims to provide a factual and evidential side of the ubiquitous flood stories around the world. The box serves as an opportunity for the user to discover factual articles on geological, archaeological, linguistic and historical findings on evidences which point towards the possibility of a great or worldwide flood in human history.

On the other hand, the user may also encounter articles and arguments on opposing opinions on the probability of this event having had occurred, along with possible evidences which point away from the event having had occurred.

The user is encouraged to explore, discover and question, and is challenged to go beyond scratching surfaces and seek for underlying truths. The box serves as a medium to enable users to do this symbolically.

The information and factual evidences suggested through the box aims to leave the user with a whetted appetite for inquisitiveness, to take it upon himself/herself to discover the truth behind the bizarre phenomenon.

At the end of the day, it is the spirit of curiosity and digging deeper which ‘DELUGE/DELUSION’ aims to spark in the 18-21-year-old.

3. Official Website for DELUGE/DELUSION

Objectives:

1. Raise awareness amongst target audience of the global phenomenon of flood narratives passed down to present-day since ancient civilisations
2. Exhibit a curation of flood stories from various civilisations of different countries
3. Present a data analysis of a pool of 100+ flood narratives to highlight similarities and differences – the nuances within each story
4. Promote and encourage target audience to purchase the Illustration Book and Box of Curated Discoveries